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Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

aka: Shin Onimusha

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Onimusha Dawn of Dreams, known in Japan as ''Shin Onimusha: DAWN OF DREAMS (新 鬼武者 DAWN OF DREAMS), is the (so far) last original entry of the Onimusha series published by Capcom, and the magnum opus of the tetralogy, released for Playstation 2 in 2006 in both Japan and later, on March, in Europe and the USA. It is the sixth game of the series as a whole, but the fourth canonical entry.

With the death of the tyrannical Oda Nobunaga and the sudden disappearence of Akechi Samanosuke, Japan was seemingly freed from the threat of the Genma, and unified under the banner of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Under his rule, the land has seemingly found peace at last... but soon, dire events strike the land of the Rising Sun: plagues, wildfires, floods, volcanic eruptions, and Toyotomi leading the nation into an invasion of Korea. And while all of this happens a sinister celestial body that people call the Omen Star has appeared in the skies, leading many to speculate that it is a sign of doom for Japan. The Genma have returned in semi-secret, this time serving Toyotomi, having sworn to aid his attempts at foreign conquest by turning soldiers into bloodthirsty human-Genma hybrids with the "Genma Insects" spawned by the mysterious and unnerving Genma Trees.

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However, a mysterious blond warrior, clad in a blue armor and carrying two huge swords on his back, stands up to oppose the Genma and destroy Genma Trees whenever he can find them: he's known as "Soki, Oni of the Ash". His struggle against the forces of evil doesn't go unnoticed, and soon enough, he's surruouned by a small party of comrades: the wandering swordswoman Yagyu "Jubei" Akane, granddaughter of the old Jubei, the mysterious warrior monk in red armor Tenkai Nankobo, Soki's childhood friend turned gunslinger Ohatsu, and the huge Roberto, a foreigner whose arms contains an eldritch power. This brave band of Onimusha prepares to undertake a long and dangerous journey to defeat Hideyoshi and put an end to the Genma's presence in Japan once and for all.

Firstly, Onimusha Dawn of Dreams features many, many departures from the original "Oda Nobunaga Trilogy": it's far more action-packed, with the horror elements mostly gone in favour of huge environments, a free-rotating camera, exploration and less emphasis on puzzles, reduced mostly to keys required to proceed or to optional chests which can be smashed open (though the item inside will be unidentified). Also, rather than have the secondary characters as support or alternatives, you can actually explore levels with another party member, order him around and even switch controls between Soki and his companion in order to traverse certain levels which are normally not accessible to him, with each party member having his/her own quirks, strong suits and abilities. Also, it features more RPG elements, such as Relationship Values with the party members (who can use materials to forge items) and, rather than a small pool of magic weapons for each character, you can find entire arsenals of weapons, usually at least 3 for each element, for the heroes to use, as well as much more accessories to power your characters up. It also does away with prior games depicting the main character in Ink-Suit Actor fashion and pursues more original, unique designs for each character. Finally it lasts much longer, nearly as long as the previous games combined, and the story is divided in two disks.

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Sadly enough, the game sold rather poorly, all things considered, but it was appreciated by critics, receiving mostly positive reviews and being praised for the refreshed gameplay and story, though a few weren't impressed by the voice acting or some of the cutscenes.

It received two manga adaptations which provide a little backstory, the prologue manga TWILIGHT OF DESIRE, and a CG movie made from cutscenes which pretty much tells the story from the POV of Jubei. Soki also appeared as a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

This Video Game contains examples of:

Abandoned Hospital: Luis' Hospital in Osaka is eeriely devoid of patients, but it's filled with Genma and has a whole underground floor with a massive operation room filled with dissection tools and weird machinery where Luis is fought.

Action Prologue: The first chapter can be seen as this: with a minimum amount of story given, you're put in Soki's control as he makes his was through Osaka, killing Genma and eventually bringing down a Genma Colossus alone.

Airborne Mook: Barthah returns from the third game, along with the Gyaran enemies and the much more formidable Hell Crows, which are laser-spitting, flying ninja crows. For most of the characters all of these enemies are very difficult to deal with and kill, although Ohatsu can easily target them with her guns.

All There in the Manual: Some Japanese-only materials, including at least three manga spin offs, explains some background elements and events, such as Jubei and Soki's pasts, how Soki entered the service of the Toyotomi, and a small adventure involving Toyotomi's nephew as the Big Bad and a revenant Guildenstern, which explains how Hideyoshi came to use Genma and Genma Insects.

And I Must Scream: It is implied that people forcibly possessed by the Genma are actually conscious of their situation but unable to do much to stop them, as is the case with Luis Frois and Ohatsu.

Animal Motif: This game accentuates an insect/arthropod motif for all the Genma. Detailed examples include:

Creepy Centipedes: Mukade for Mitsunari, seen in his segmented armor, large hat resembling the head of a centipede and the leg-like motif on his war fan. His true form is a colossal flying centipede with scythe-like pincers and a vaguely humanoid mouth.

Creepy Crows: Munenori is mostly associated with crows, which he uses as pets and assistants in combat.

Macabre Moth Motif: Ophelia, the priestess of the Triumvirate, resembles a moth, due to her wings, furred collar, eyes and antennae poking through her hair.

Flies Equals Evil: Luis Frois's build and clothing makes you think of a large fly, even before he transforms into one.

Anti-Frustration Features: This time, if you cannot figure out how to open a puzzle chest, you are free to break it open to retrieve the content... which, however, will be unidentified and unusuable, forcing you to pay Mino Goro to use it.

Archnemesis Dad: In both case adoptive: Soki is determinated to stop Hideyoshi, who he sees as a foster father, while Roberto plans to do the same with Luis Frois, his adoptive father. Soki himself doesn't think too highly of his real father, Tokugawa Ieyasu,

Artifact of Doom: The Dark Stones are mentioned in the prologue. It's revealed that these massive dark stones can be used by the Genma to fuel their plans, since their energy can accellerate the advent of the Omen Star and increase their power, as well as giving Hideyoshi an unholy amount of energy needed to feed the God of Light's embryo inside him. The group's priority becomes destroying these stones using Roberto's Exorcising Beads in order to cut the supply. Turns into All for Nothing when they discover that the first stone was almost depleted anyway and that by the time they destroy the second one, it is too late to stop the Omen Star.

Apocalyptic Log: Across the game you can find the journal of the wandering monk Takuan in different locations. Subverted when you find out that he actually survived the whole story.

Arm Cannon: A new breed of Genma consist in massive armored mooks with gatling guns in lieu of fingers. Their stronger counterparts have cannons instead.

Arrowgram: Trope Namer. Since he cannot access Mount Hiei, Munenori delivers a challenge to Soki with a message tied to an arrow, called "arrowgram" in universe by Arin. To make sure he received the message, Munenori shot 500 of them at the mountain, a fact he pointed out in the letter itself.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The game opens with Soki facing the humongous, sword-wielding Genma Colossus in Osaka. Later bosses, while sometimes huge, do not get that big, except for the White Serpent.

An Axe to Grind: Genma Axemen are huge, skeletal Genma soldiers twice the height of the playable characters armed with humongous, broad-headed axes. Despite their imposing appearence, they're terribly slow-hitting, and easy to deal with using Issen. Their upgraded counterparts tend to strike twice in a row and with greater speed, making them much more of a threat.

Back from the Dead: The Boss of the Dark Oni Orb inside the Mansion is a revenant Gargant, who finally gets to show off his skills in combat. In disc 2, Tenkai, who was actually killed, manages to return thanks to the trial of the Oni Mansion. Also, Rosencrantz and Claudius are revived by the Omen Star descending on Fushimi Castle and must be killed again for good, while in TWILIGHT OF DESIRE, a sub-plot has Guildenstern briefly returning to life driven by his vengeance against Samanosuke, but is stopped and killed by Tenkai who, ironically, is Samanosuke.

Bait-and-Switch Boss: In Kyushu, it appears that the Dark Stone will be guarded by both Mitsunari and Luis... but then Luis step aside, leaving you to confront Mitsunari on the rising platform again.

Barrier Warrior: Sakon Shima not only wears a colossal armor and brandishes a giant spear, but he's also surrounded by a crescent-shaped barrier made of Technicolor Fire which prevents you from attacking him head on. Luckily enough, in case you get cornered, a powerful enough Magic attack or Onimusha form can get you out of trouble. Also, if you order your partner to "defend", he will generate a circular blue field which blocks attacks for a while, shrinking with every blow before breaking.

BFG: A set of Ohatsu's weapons include massive, cannon-like weapons shooting explosive bullets at short range. New Genma breeds include some looking like living cannons (who can be kicked repeatedly in order to turn away from their original position) and humanoid Genma with firearms for hands.

BFS: All of Soki's weapons: some are long and slender nodachi, others resemble more reasonably-sized western broadswords, but some are so huge and encumbering that even Soki can barely swing them in a clumsy three hit combo.

Big Bad: Toyotomi Hideyoshi is eventually chosen to be the next Genma Lord, and has unleashed them on the country. In the end, the true villain behind these events is the Genma God of Light, Fortinbras, a.k.a. the Man in White.

Big Damn Heroes: When Sakon is about to demolish the San Espana and sink it, Tenkai jumps on board and knocks him out of commission. Later on, Sakon repays the favor by spearing Mitsunari while he has the group under his control, breaking the spell and forcing Claudius to come out.

Bishōnen Line: When the God of Light first manifests, he appears as the White Serpent, an updated and utterly colossal version of the Final Boss of Onimusha: Warlords. After Soki takes him down, he takes again the form of the Man in White for the real final battle. Given though that Soki faces him in his normal form, it's actually debatable if it's really a power up but still, according to the japanese wiki page, the Man in White is the real form of Fortinbras.

Blocking Stops All Damage: In this game, blocking side characters will generate a barrier which can actually shields you from any damage as long as you're in it. However, normal block-shattering attacks can istantly break down the barrier.

Body Horror: The result of eating the Genma Insects in the long run, as the user's skin turn brownish and seemingly rotting from the inside out. It's implied that the Genma Generals are wearing a mask to hide these deformities.

Bond Villain Stupidity: Zigzagged in the Kyushu Facility: the heroes burst into the tower holding the Dark Stone... but they find out that Mitsunari moved the stone to the very top of the tower, normally unaccessible... and then he proceeds to fight the group on the elevator platform in the middle leading to said stone! Then, he manages to restrain the entire group with his dark magic, but he's still thwarted by Sakon and forced to reveal his real form.

Boss-Only Level: Chapter 2 only consist in a boss fight against Danemon Ban and his minions, no more and no les.

Boss Rush: The final chapters in Kyoto have you battle again the members of the Genma Triumvirate one by one, with each of your characters squaring off against their personal nemesis.

Boxing Battler: Roberto's fighting style, which is why he's the only character who can't dodge by sidestepping or rolling, but just sways out of the way as he punches enemies to death. The same goes for the enemy Genma Diamond and Zero Diamond.

Brainwashed and Crazy: People who eat Genma Insects are corrupted and become bloodthirsty puppets controlled by the Genma. However, Sakon's Heroic Willpower was stronger than Mitsunari expected, so he had Ophelia craft a special red mask that allows him to forcefully control Sakon. Once the mask is broken, Sakon is back to his senses.

Break the Cutie: Jubei. Poor Jubei. Despite being the most cheerful and carefree member of the group, she undergoes some pretty harsh breakdowns, and she's the sole witness of Soki's Heroic Sacrifice.

The Oni Mansion, located on the border of the Underworld, is revisited again after 3, and Marcellus makes a cameo. Also, Arin mentions how she once met a foreign Onimusha, hinting at her true identity.

Not only the Yagyu become relevant again, furthermore Ohatsu mentions that she was mentored in guns by Saika Magoichi, the man who fought Nobunaga. Oichi and her presumed relationship with Sekishusai are mentioned.

At one point, Jubei mentions that she's friend with Okuni, a dancing spearwoman who was introduced in one of the spin-off games.

Aside from low-level weapons, nearly all the others you can employ were weapons from previous games, sometimes even from enemies or NPCs, such as Heihachi's Dragonfly spear, Magoichi's Goraishiki shotgun or even Nobunaga's swords from 3. Roberto's gauntlets are the sole exception.

Canon Character All Along: Three of the characters introduced in these games are actually known faces. Namely, Tenkai is Samanosuke, Arin is Ako and the Man in White is Fortinbras.

Character Development: Since this game is much longer than the previous three and spans (In-Universe) a period of months, this time we get to see more evolution from the characters, especially Jubei and Ohatsu (due to Soki's influence) and Roberto, who goes from being angry and cold to reveal his true nature as a Gentle Giant.]]

Cherry Blossom: The beautiful Cherry Blossom festival in Kyoto is actually much more sinister, as the trees are Genma Trees, and the blossoms are actually Genma Insects, ready to take over the bodies and minds of Kyoto's citizens.

Climax Boss: Due to the length, the title goes to Hideyoshi and later Luis Frois in Disc One, as well as Mitsunari/Claudius in disc 2. All of them are rather intense boss fights at critical points in the plot.

Clothing Damage: As a result of fighting a possessed Ohatsu with Requiem, her baggy clothes are destroyed, and she's forced to rummage new, skimpier clothing from what's left of them.

Combination Attack: Since this time you can have two characters at the same time on screen, you can chain Issen Attacks to strike an enemy twice (though the secondary Issen is weaker than the real deal). If both have a magical weapon equipped and one of them permit level 3 magic, they can unleash a devastating, screen-covering magical storm of elemental magic of the respective elements.

Curb-Stomp Battle: For Disc one, any of the battles between Jubei and Munenori ends in her defeat. She gets better in the rematch in Disc 2.

Cutscene Power to the Max: The opening cutscene has Soki conjuring a storm while entering Onimusha form, as well as leaping high in the sky to deliver a Single-Stroke Battle against the giant Genma Colossus, Diagonal Cutting through his sword and body, as well as Dual Wielding Lamentation and Requiem. Naturally, all of this is not possible in game, except for the penultimate battle against Fortinbras, and even then the powers of the Oni Gauntlet are required. For a villainous example, after his second defeat, Mitsunari is suddenly able to summon bindings of sheer darkness to tie the heroes up, which he neved did before.

Damage-Sponge Boss: The Great Genma Beast doesn't really have a gimmick, or special attacks, or a weakness: the battle ultimately consist in running back and forth after the jumping boss and hack away at his healthbar, avoiding the counterattacks and the summoned flunkies.

Damsel in Distress: Jubei Yagyu, twice after being defeated by her Evil Uncle. The first time she's even tied to explosives and left to die. Luckily, there's no timed mission to save her.

Dark Action Girl: Ophelia, the only woman among the opposing Genma forces encountered.

Dark Is Not Evil: Zigzagged. On the one hand, Soki holds the powers of the, presumably benevolent Oni God of Darkness, who opposed the Genma God of Light in the past to protect mankind. That being said, a document found on Mount Hiei pretty much states that the powers of the God of Darkness can turn the user into a world-destroying menace stronger than the Onimusha, and several enemies can use dark powers with impunity.

Darkest Hour: The end of chapter 7: the plan to lead the attack on Kyoto, destroy the Genma Trees and stop the Cherry Blossom Festival by burning the Genma Trees. However, things go south quickly as the group is ambushed by the villains and separated, Soki tries to kill Hideyoshi but fails, his companions are captured and Tenkai dies to let him and Ohatsu escape. To make things worse, the following chapter soon reveals that Ohatsu is infected with the Genma Insects and is about to be transformed into a Genma, with apparently no choice but to Mercy Kill her.

Death Equals Redemption: Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself, all things considered, on his deathbed reveals that he was manipulated by the Genma and genuinely begs for forgiveness to Ohatsu, Soki and Yodo.

Deadpan Snarker: Unlike Samanosuke and Jubei, Soki loves to snark, though he also has serious moments in between.

Defeat Means Friendship: Downplayed with Jubei and Roberto: while they do join the party after being defeated in battle, in the first case, a Genma attack forces the two to pull an Enemy Mine. Roberto meanwhile goes through a similar case, but he remains an Aloof Ally for a while, before his development near the end of Disc 1.

Degraded Boss: A Black variant of the Great Genma Beast is encountered as a miniboss in chapter 9. Averted with the Genma Generals, who are all palette swaps of Danemon Ban, but they're usually stronger than he was.

Driven to Suicide: In this game a side-dialogue confirms that Oyuu/Oichi committed suicide when Katsuie was killed rather than fall into Hideyoshi's hands.

Dub Name Change: Some enemies have different names from their Japanese counterparts. Most notably, the Genma Generals: while in the English translation they're simply referred by their color, in the original Japanese each of them has a unique, nature-themed name related to their element: we have Kongoh (Vajra, the Yellow Generals), Shinra (Nature, Green Generals), Shisui (Still Waters, the Blue Generals) and Zetsuei (Absolute Shadows, the Dark Generals).

Duel Boss: The final battle of Chapter 16 has Jubei fighting Munenori one on one. The same goes for the battles in Kyoto in the final chapter.

Elemental Powers: As per staple of the series, the elemental powers and spells tied to the weapons make their final appearence, including pretty much all the elements from the previous game. This time, there are at least three weapons for each elements, as well as trinkets to protect you from enemy magic. Also, certain enemies actually have elemental weaknesses or resistances... but you're not informed in game... Anyway, each character's starting weapon has a specific element.

11th-Hour Superpower: In order to face a revived God of Light, Tenkai gives Soki the Oni Gauntlet. Powered up by the soul of Nobunaga inside and his own powers, Soki becomes the avatar of the God of Darkness, complete with long hair, shiny armor and Dual Wielding ginormous swords. What follows is an epic battle in the skies of Kyoto. Unfortunately, it only last for the battle against the White Serpent, and runs out before Fortinbras shows his true face.

Elite Four: Under the service of the Genma-led Toyotomi, there are these fellows:

The Dragon: Ishida Mitsunari/Claudius, the Genma Chancellor, is the direct right-hand man of Hideyoshi and carries out the plans to resurrect the God of Light.

The Brute: Both Munenori Yagyu and Sakon Shima are the not-too-bright musclemen of the group.

Evil Genius: Luis Frois/Rosencrantz, the Genma Scientist and heir of Guildenstern, the one experimenting on the poor innocents and creating the required machines to draw energy from the Dark Stones.

The Dark Chick: Ophelia, the Priestess, is the last one to enter the scene and her job is to protect Hideyoshi and nurture the God of Light's embryo inside him.

Elite Mook: Pretty much each enemy has a stronger, cooler-looking variant which is harder to kill, hits harder and has more attacks and different moves.

Escort Mission: One of the challenges has you protecting two random good-for-nothing schmucks from the Genma. Since they tend to move around aimlessly and costantly, it's one of the hardest challenges.

Establishing Character Moment: Soki is introduced protecting a little girl from a Genma onslaught, butchering a small army of them before getting pissed at the sight of the Toyotomi crest, turning into the Dark Onimusha and destroying the colossus. He then returns the ball to the little girl before jumping back into the fray.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For all his faults, Hideyoshi genuinely adores his only son Hideyori and the concubine who bore the heir, Yodo.

Evil Knockoff: Dark Puppets (Fobora) in this game tend to copy the weapons and fighting styles of either Soki, Jubei, Ohatsu or Tenkai. Diamonds and Zero Diamonds to the same with Roberto.

Evil Plan: Hideyoshi wants to use people to create Genma Trees, which in turn spawn Insects to create more Genma soldiers. Meanwhile, the Genma Triumvirate uses Hideyoshi to hatch the God of Light in his body, feeding him power through the Dark Stones, while the Genma Mother Tree and the Genma Trees are also used to accellerate the descent of the Omen Star, which will resurrect Fortinbras.

Evil Tower of Ominousness: The two facilities in Osaka and Kyushu where the Dark Stones are kept and studied. The tower itself is used to send energy to Hideyoshi.

Excalibur: Soki's Infinity -1 Sword a), the easier to recover, is found locked in the 50 level of the Dark Realm, making a return from Blade Warriors. It is aligned with Light, has awesome stats and protects from Darkness-related spells.

Face Death with Dignity: During the destruction of Shimabara's facility, while Rosencraz shrieks in pain, Luis calmly thanks Roberto for putting an end to his torment.

Fake Ultimate Mook: Axemen are huge, armored, towering skeletons wielding gargantuan axes, but despite this they're pathetically easy to defeat if you know what to do.

Fan Disservice: Hideyoshi revealing that he has the fetus of the God of Light embedded in his abdomen, pulsating and in sight. Even Soki cannot contain the Squick.

Fighting Your Friend: Soki will have to face each of his companions at least once before they join him. Ohatsu is also fought to release her from the Insects.

Five-Man Band: And this time, you get to use all of them, though only two characters at once on the battlefield, and you can shift between them, in order to take advantage of their special skills.

The Hero: Soki, the main playable character and hero of the story. When used as a support, he will absorb Genma Souls.

The Lancer: Akane Yagyu, the second person to join, and the one who spends most time with Soki and is closer to him. She can move in narrow spaces and, in combat, taunt enemies and keep them from attacking Soki.

The Smart Guy: Tenkai, the most knowledgeable and wise member of the group who actually has a plan to stop the Genma. Tenkai can talk with the dead and his skill powers Soki's attack by praying.

The Big Guy: Roberto is the largest and strongest, but is slow and his magic is weaker. He can open steel doors by punching them, operate steel levers and he can go berserk and attack with impunity without losing health.

The Chick: Ohatsu, The Heart of the group for both Soki and Roberto, as well as being the most feminine of them. She can detonates certain Genma Locks and use her guns to snipe enemies and stun them.

Flunky Boss: Some bosses will usually summon backup in the form of Toyotomi Soldiers to aid them. Most noticeable, Ophelia.

Foreshadowing: The techniques used by Soki in the opening movie. Are used again in his God of Darkness Onimusha form.

The two portraits in Sawayama Castle, hiding the secret passages.

Free Rotating Camera: This game does away with the fixed camera and 2D enviroments in order to give the players more freedom of movement.

Frickin' Laser Beams: Some of Ohatsu's guns are laser-shooting machines that shoots highly-damaging lasers, while certain door-mounted Mazins will attack with red laser beams. One of Fortinbras' strongest attacks is a tight bombardment of laser beams from above which are nearly impossible to block (you can parry the first waves, but there's so many of them they'll break your guard and damage you) and can be barely dodged if you're already moving.

Gameplay and Story Integration: While characters normally talk and answers in combat, when you first have Roberto in your party he won't answer back when ordered around.

Luis Frois fights in a room with a wooden balcony above running around, and will eventually teleport there one of your heroes. Then he spends half the combat becoming invisible (forcing you to send his flying scalpels back at him) and the other half placing a deadly curse and teleporting from the central room to the platform above, forcing you to switch characters to defeat him.

Claudius will fly around the arena costantly, occasionally diving back and forth in the pavement or poking out his vulnerable tail to attack with lasers, making the battle long and tedious.

Giant Mook: Large Genma from previous games are utterly trumped by the gargantuan Menchis: these heavyset behemoths are several times bigger than the heroes, cannot even move and attack with a Ground Pound. Their elite counterparts are even larger and stronger.

Giant Space Flea From No Where: The giant, mantis-like guardians of Sawayama Castle, as well as the huge, wasp-like Genma found in one of the rooms and later fought as a boss.

A God Am I: Hideyoshi has a god complex and during his Boss Banter claims to wield the power of a God. and actually incubates the God of Light Fortinbras.

The Heavy: While Hideyoshi is the boss, Mitsunari is the one doing all the job for the bad guys, to the point that, at first, Ohatsu thinks that killing Mitsunari will save Hideyoshi.

Heavily Armored Mook: Fugaku returns from 3: the armor is symbolized by an ulterior brown healthbar which must be depleted to break the armor and reveal the real Fugaku inside.

Heel Realization: Ohatsu has he faith in the Toyotomi cause shaken when she sees up close the Genma Trees. Averted by Munenori when he learns the truth about his father and the Demon Eye: he's gone too far to make amend now.

Hero of Another Story: It's implied that the Monk Takuan traveled Japan and leanrt the truth about the Genma and Hideyoshi on his own.

Hijacked by Ganon: In the very end, the villain is revealed to be a revenant Fortinbras, the same Genma Lord from the first game slain by Samanosuke.

Historical Badass Upgrade: Hideyasu Yuki was a minor, unimportant feudal lord. Here, he's the hero, and avatar of the Oni God of Darkness.

Historical In-Joke: The catastrophic events mentioned in the opening title mentions events that actually happened in Japan at the time.

Historical Villain Upgrade: Ishida Mitsunari, Luis Frois (though in this case he's exscused by Demonic Possession), and Yagyu Munenori are depicted as utterly evil and sadistic psychos with not a single decent bone in their bodies. And while Ishida might have earned some bad reputation, the same couldn't be said for Munenori himself. In the background we have Kato Kiyomasa being a Genma-possessed madman (and to be fair he was quite a douchebag in real life too) and Ieyasu according to Soki, who views him as nothing more than a lapdog to Hideyoshi.

Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Invoked, Soki cannot transform into Onimusha before the climax of Chapter 7 because he was holding back for Hideyoshi.

Holy Hand Grenade: The Requiem is a massive sword controlled with telekinesis which purifies Genma and releases purple swords with each strike.

Human Resources: The Genma Trees are made of people, merged together in grotesque, screaming masses.

Iaijutsu Practitioner: One of Jubei's weapons can give her this fighting style, especially her Counterattack skill.

Infinity -1 Sword: The weapons found on level 50 of the Dark Realm. Each of them is the second strongest, has awesome stats and elemental magic. Soki has also the Balmunk, a Darkness-elemental sword and rare drop from the Dark Genma Generals.

Infinity +1 Sword: The weapons found on the bottom of the Dark Realm are the strongest, offer the best enhacements but lack elemental powers.

Invisible Monster: A type of enemy, normally invulnerable and thus annoying to deal with. You must absorb souls to make them visible.

It's Personal: The final act has each character squaring off against their personal nemesis before the final battle.

I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Jubei and Roberto both harbors feelings for Soki and Ohatsu respectively, but they ultimately encourage them to stay together.

Kneel Before Zod: After showing of a fraction of his powers, Fortinbras claim that he will show some mercy if Soki and his companions bow to him and recognize him as a God. Soki refuses, countering that he's no God, only a worthless pile of shit.

Large Ham: Mostly the bad guys, such as Mitsunari, Munenori and Frois, but Soki too has his moments.

While the previous three games had a limited amount of combos, which the player had to figure out on their own as there was no move list, Dawn of Dreams has more combat moves and a full skill tree not unlike other modern action games a la God of War or Ninja Gaiden.

The camera is no longer fixed and can be moved freely, and the player has the ability to lock onto targets.

Enemies and bosses now have visible health meters, where as the previous games did not have this feature.

Issen attacks can now be performed following the use of magic, with a far more forgiving time frame.

When you absorb souls, the game actually keeps track of how many you have, with each weapon costing a certain amount to upgrade.

Each weapon no longer has its own magic meter, meaning that the player must preserve magic power more.

The buttons for performing actions and absorbing souls have been swapped; X now does the latter while Circle does the former.

Previous games only had two playable characters (except 3, which had 3 with the addition of Michelle), with one only being playable on certain occasions in Warlords and 2, where as Dawn of Dreams has five, who join you in most missions and can be commanded with the D-pad, a button previously used for movement.

The game is divided into individual stages, rather than the world being freely explorable.

Laser-Guided Karma: Ophelia turned Yodo in the Genma Mother Tree and took her place to care after the embryo of Fortinbras, and is eventually killed by her.

Laughing Mad: Yagyu Munenori, more and more as he proceeds through the game. He's practically a Giggling Villain by the time it's revealed that he too carries Genma Insects inside his body.

Law of Chromatic Superiority: The above mentioned Elite Mook tend to have a red hue or coloring compared to their normal counterparts, except the Great Genma Beast in Azuchi, which is black and is a miniboss you're expected to defeat easily.

Leitmotif: Each character has his own leitmotif, playing at full force during their boss fights or, in Soki's case, during Chapter 1. The same Leitmotif also plays on the first 20 floors of the Dark Realms and finally back on the last 20. The duel between the Yagyus features a new Leitmotif merged together.

Light Is Not Good: Again, zigzagged: it is played straigth by Fortinbras, the Genma God of Light who leads the Genma and claims to have created mankind to serve as food for his creatures, and none of your character has a Light-aligned first weapon of choice. That being said, your heroes have no penalty using Light magic, most of the Genma seem to use dark powers anyway and are vulnerable to Light, even Hideyoshi himself.

Mad Scientist: Rosencrantz is the worthy heir of Guildenstern, having make terrible experiments on innocent people to create even more Genma.

Magical Eye: This game half-retcons the Yagyu powers as the "Demon Eye", a magical eye that marks the chosen warriors of the Yagyu clan and allows them to fight the Genma. Akane has one, which she only awakens halfway through the game, while Munenori hides one behind his eyepatch. It came from his own mother, who sacrificed it along with her life to save a young Munenori, thought he believed that Sekishusai killed her in order to give him the Eye. The Onimusha Soul series reveal that even outsiders of the Yagyu clan can develop the Demon Eye, such as Date Masamune.

Man in White: During the story, Soki is often confronted by a mysterious pale man dressed from head to toe in pristine white western clothes like an european gentleman complete with pocket watch, blond hair and affable manners. Oddly enough, only Soki can see him. He's seen by everyone at the end when the Omen Star arrives, revealing that he is Fortinbras, the God of Light.

Malevolent Masked Man: The Genma Generals wear masks to hide their mutations, while Sakon Shima's red mask is the brainwashing tool designed by Ophelia to keep him in check.

Mighty Glacier: Roberto is the slowest-moving of the heroes, but packs quite a punch in combat. Certain large enemies qualify, such as the Fugaku, Menchis and Dordio. The Menchis is so large he can't even move from the spot he appears.

Mini-Boss: Genma Generals are rare, usually appearing as challenges, are much stronger than regular mooks and can make use of elemental powers to mess you up.

Missing Mom: Soki's mother. The only thing we know, is that he got his blond hair from her, as well as the sword Lamentation, implying she had ties with the Oni clan. She's possibly meant to be the Narrator.

Mook Debut Cutscene: New enemies are usually introduced with a brief cutscene. Sometimes, it also means that a Challenge is about to take place.

Mooks: The Zombie soldiers makes their return! This time, they're usually encountered as Toyotomi Soldiers, wearing an elaborated golden armor with the Toyotomi crest.

Mook Maker: The Great Genma Beast can shoot bullets that will also summon Genma Zombies, while the Hecuba-like boss will costantly give birth to Genma Eggs during the battle. If the eggs aren't destroyed on time, a random Genma will hatch.

Ms. Fanservice: Ohatsu is a rather beautiful woman, in spite of her baggy clothes. Once they're destroyed, she recycle the cloth into a much more skin-baring outfit that exopes her midriff and legs, as well as emphasizing her chest. Meanwhile Akane Yagyu, while younger and "less-developed", still sports a Zettai Ryouiki with Hartman Hips, and her running animation emphasize her derriere. Finally, Ophelia could count as a villainous example, being a Cute Monster Girl with a midriff and cleavage-baring outfit, though not at the exent of her artwork where her nipples are about to spill from under her clothes.

Mysterious Watcher: The Man in White, enigmatically watching the events unfold before him. Eventually revelaed to be Fortinbras keeping an eye on his nemesis.

Ninja: This time, like in 3, there's no ninja character to play, but a whole horde of Ninja mooks: the Three-Eyes return, along with the Dark Spiders, Dark Moles and Hell Crows variants, all equipped with arm blades and nasty tricks.

Nintendo Hard: Compared to the previous games, this one is rightly considered the thoughest to complete and play, especially with the new genre shift, complex character relationships and much more combat than before.

Non-Human Sidekick: Minokichi is this for Soki, being his only companion, able to appear from nowhere dangling on his thread. Before you ask, he can teleport the group to previously-visited areas and the Dark Realm, as well as contacing the shop of Mino Goro. He sacrifices himself to teleport the entire group from Nagoya Castle to Akechi's Tomb in Kyoto, but the epilogue reveals that he got better.

Nostalgia Level: Chapter 8 takes place entirely on Mount Hiei, revisiting almost step by step the first level as Jacques from Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, and ends with a journey inside the Oni Mansion from the same game. The following chapter has the heroes travelling to the ruins of Azuchi Castle and reach the roof where Marcellus was fought.

Not Quite Dead: The gigantic, half-rotten wasp woman in Sawayama will awaken and attack when you're dropped again in her room by Mitsunari. Also, Munenori Yagyu survived the events of the game, somehow.

Oblivious to Love: Jubei eventually falls in love with Soki, but he doesn't seem to notice. Also, Ohatsu is blind to Roberto's crush on her.

Oh, Crap!: Soki, when he sees Hideyoshi rising again after unleashing the fury of the Black Oni on him, thinking his Onimusha form was enough to do the trick.

One-Hit Kill: Issen, obviously enough. This time though, it has varying degrees of efficiency depending on how you performed it: Issen triggered by guard-breaking (such as kicking an enemy or using an elemental slash on them) deals the least damage, followed by a Combo Issen. The Counter Attack Issen deals a decent amount of damage, usually enough to slay mooks, but the true blue, "attack-just-before-being-hit" Issen will always deal the greatest amount of damage. You can also spend points to increase the maximum number of Chain Issen you can perform.

After Claudius is forced out of Mitsunari's body, he turns into a colossal, flying Centipede, looking like a cross between a mukade and the prehistorical Arthropleura, sporting huge scythe-like jaws and a laser-spitting orb on the tip of his tail. Said orb is his Achilles' Heel.

In Kyoto, Rosencrantz will transform into a giant fly-like monster with lightning powers and a drill-like abdomen, floating barely out of reach and summoning help costantly.

Averted with the Final Boss: the gargantuan White Serpent form taken by the God of Light Fortinbras is merely his standard "business" form he takes for dark ceremonies. After he's defeated in that form, he transforms back into the Man in White, his real form.

Pet the Dog: Soki forfeiting his only chance to destroy the huge amount of Genma Trees in Suruga to rescue Jubei, who he has just met. Hideyoshi, despite being an horrible and despotical demon lord, is surprisingly kind and doting to his newborn son Hideyori and to his concubine Yodo. Yodo loves him back in turn, absorbing a wounded Hideyoshi in her Genma Tree form to protect him from further harm.

Pivotal Boss: Inverted for the boss fight against Hideyoshi: the boss floats in circles around the arena, summoning lightning-enchanted orbs and sending shockwaves, while Soki must catch up with him to attack him.

Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Mitsunari Ishida is much more well-spoken and corteous than Tenkai (who's actually an exemplary gentleman by himself when monstrous demons aren't involved), or Soki (who's rather abrasive and sarcastic at his enemies). Subverted with Ophelia, who starts off as polite and affable in her Yodo disguise but becomes much more foul-mouthed and direct in her true form. Fortinbras is also uncanningly polite and charming to the heroes even as he's about to unleash hell on earth, while Soki calls him "sack of shit" in his face.

Power Floats: Both Hideyoshi and Mitsunari in their boss fights move around by floating just above the ground. Fortinbras downright stands and sit on thin air above you as if it was a solid surface.

Precision F-Strike: Barely averted in Disc one, when Soki stops himself short of calling the Red Warrior "Son of a bitch" when he sees he hurt Jubei. During the final battle, Soki refuses to acknowledge Fortinbras' divinity by calling him a worthless sack of shit.

Predecessor Villain: In TWILIGHT OF DESIRE, the main antagonist is Hideyoshi's nephew Toyotomi Hidetsugu, who's basically the one who caused Hideyoshi himself to turn his attention to the Genma, causing the whole mess.

Psychological Combat: Ophelia is all too willing to take Yodo's appearence and manipulate Ohatsu's feeling during the first part of the battle to make her too shaken to fight back. This is dropped once she's attacked and wounded by Soki.

Puzzle Boss: Downplayed, though Possessed!Ohatsu must be defeated by a strike from Requiem or she will regenerate. In order to make Fortinbras vulnerable you must absorb the Miasma from his giant sphere of light, then hit the sphere with your sword with the right timing to send it back to Fortinbras. As he descends in pain, you're given a window of opportunity to whale on him before he recovers.

Razor Wind: Some weapons are enchanted with long-distance razor winds, except for guns, of course, which allows them to attack from far away. In Roberto's case, it's a blunt shockwave instead.

Recurring Boss: Yagyu Munenori is fought four times across the game. The same goes for Mitsunari, who's fought twice in his human form and twice more as Claudius. Sakon Shima is fought three times.

Red Baron: Soki is known both as the "Blue Demon" and as "Oni of the Ash". The latter is a matter of Woolseyism, as in the original Japanese, Soki already means "Azure Oni", and thus his original nom de guerre is "Kaijin no Soki" (灰燼の蒼鬼, lit "Azure Oni of the Ash"). Tenkai meanwhile he's also known as the "Red Demon".

Red Oni, Blue Oni: Color-inverted with Soki and Tenkai: both are Onimusha, clad in Blue and Red, though Soki is sarcastic, easy-going, rash and temperamental, while Tenkai is older, wise, mysterious and quiet.

Red Herring: Sanada Yukimura is mentioned at one point by the heroes, and both Soki and Ohatsu seem to hold him in great esteem, thinking that a man like him could conquer the entire country if he wished, but he never appears and isn't met.

Remember the New Guy?: Fortinbras was already recognized as the Genma King and progenitor of the Genma race in a document found in 2, but his whole schtick as the God of Light and his true, human-like form are out of nowhere. Previous games also never mentioned the Oni God of Darkness either.]]

Retcon: A few of the elements of this game are presented as "always-been-there lore", but comes to severely clash with previously-established facts, most notably:

The Demon Eye: the second game states that Jubei's powers come from being half-human half-Oni, has a soul-absorbing mark on his hand and no mention of Demon Eye is made. In this game, while it would make sense that Jubei's descendants have his powers, makes the Demon Eye much more relevant, even though Sekishusai didn't have it.

Fortinbras' title: in the first game, Fortinbras is simply the king of the Genma, a title which is then bestowed to Nobunaga upon the former's death. Then, a document in the second game states that Fortinbras was created in the origin of the Universe and made the Genma and mankind, (though Unreliable Narrator is never considered), and this game has him being the "God of Light" all along, with his nemesis in the Oni clan being the God of Darkness.

Hideyoshi seemingly appearing as an overall well-intentioned warlord who was corrupted by the Genma, while in both Warlords and Samurai's Destiny he's shown to be a pretentious, smarm dick on his own.

RPG Elements: This time you can control a secondary character, each with unique gimmicks to explore the levels, have access to a shop to buy supplies, potions, weapons and items, and can also use Red Souls as Experience Points to unlock and boost attack moves and stats, as well as weapons.

Rush Boss: Jubei Yagyu is very fast and can unleash several slashes in a row. However, most of her attacks are easy to block and counter with a deadly Issen, which eats her life bar in a few strikes.

Scary Impractical Armor: Sakon's gigantic red armor makes you think of a warship rather than a warrior, but apparently doesn't even faze his movements.

Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Ophelia takes Yodo's form to confront the party and guilt-trips Ohatsu into staying out of combat and trying to stop her companions.

Shellshocked Veteran: Like Samanosuke before him, Soki left Japan, but unlike him, he was sent to fight in Korea, where he witnessed the atrocities and brutality of the Insect-infected soldiers released on the continent.

Sinister Minister: Averted by Luis Frois, as when Rosencrantz is in charge he's more of a Mad Scientist, but when the man himself reasserts his control, he appears as a dignified, benevolent man who actually put the Exorcising Beads inside Roberto to give him a way to defeat the Genma.

Spider People: Dark Spiders and Hell Spiders are humanoid Genma with multiple limbs, spider heads and the ability to shoot threads of web to stick to walls and launch surprise attacks.

Chapter 9 has Soki and Ohatsu storming the ruined Azuchi Castle to rescue Jubei from Munenori.

Chapter 16 has the party breaking in Nagoya Castle to reach the teleporter located on the top of the main keep in order to reach Kyoto in time before the Omen Star lands.

Stuff Blowing Up: Ohatsu can also use gunpowder to break down certain locked doors, spread a curtain of explosive powder and throw grenades at the enemies.

Super Mode: Each character has a special super-powerful mode activated by filling the Onimusha purple gauge with purple souls. Once the gauge is filled to half, the mode can be activated anytime, or automatically kicks in if the character's HP reach zero. Furthermore, special attacks can be cast freely without cooldown and magic is exchanged with a special unique attack for each character.

Black Onimusha for Soki, not only he deals much more damage, but he's costantly syphoning souls around him, and can see invisible Genma and attract the Gyaran.

Demon Eye for Jubei, upon activating it she will slow down the movements of enemies to a crawl, she'll be able to see invisible Genma and attack them with impunity as they're too slow to react.

Genma Blood for Ohatsu, allows her to summon four drones like Nobunaga, which will attack all enemies on their own and focus on a single target when she unleash certain attacks.

Oni Gauntlet for Tenkai, turning his staff into a shining holy weapon that can impale and throw multiple enemies.

Exorcising Beads for Roberto, greatly enhancing the power of his fists and attacks, allowing him to perform a nearly endless combo.

Tactical Suicide Boss: Rosencrantz can fly above Roberto, but occasionally will try to crush him under his abdomen, ending up struck into the earth and easy prey for Roberto's flurry of demon-annihilating fists.

Talking to the Dead: Tenkai's special abilities. Some corpses will only give you pointless chats, others will provide you with clues or items.

Taking You with Me: Fugaku, unlike the previous game, will give a loud moan upon being killed and explode into a fiery conflagration that will hurt you.

Teleportation: Minokichi can freely teleport you to previously-visited levels and back using magic mirrors scattered around.

Tentacle Rope: In the opening movie, Mitsunari conjures one made of writhing centipedes to grab Tenkai in midair. In his boss fight, he will occasionally use one to stun your characters.

That Came Out Wrong: Non sexual example, apparently Soki never heard of bread before, but when Roberto tries to describe him bread, the description ends up sounding disgusting to Soki, who's put off bread, much to Roberto's confusion.

That Man Is Dead: Soki refuses to go by his real name, Hideyasu Yuki, in order to cut all ties with the Tokugawa.

As with previous games, important Genma are named after Shakesperean characters.

Jubei's weapons are named after real Japanese swords, such as Muramasa, Doji-giri, Usumidori and Shishioh.

Most of Ohatsu's guns are named either after natural elements or mythological deities and creatures.

Tenkai's weapons are named after buddhist deities and concepts.

Roberto's weapons are named after angels and archangels.

Throwing Your Sword Always Works: The Requiem can be telekinetically controlled by Soki, who can either make it whirl around him, send it flying point-first at a single enemy or make it swing and fall down in front of him to impale a single opponent.

Tragic Monster: Chapter 8 ends up with a battle against Ohatsu, possessed by the Genma Insects, complete with somber, tragic music in the background. Her sister Yodo was transformed into the Genma Mother Tree and must be defeated and purified.

Token Evil Teammate: Munenori is the only villainous Yagyu in the entire clan, having turned against his very people.

After emptying Hideyoshi's first healthbar he will power up, glow and be actually able to hurt Soki in his Onimusha form.

After reducing Munenori's health to a quarter in his second boss fight, he will decide to use his Demon Eye to gain a boost in power.

Once you reduce Luis Frois' health, he will separate the characters in the arena, and then proceed to summon more scalpels when he makes himself invisible and occasionally cast a deadly clock-shaped aura that will kill the characters if they can't inflict enough damage on him.

24-Hour Armor: Neither Soki nor Tenkai are ever seen removing their armor in cutscenes, and they always look good in them.

Villainous Breakdown: Fortinbras himself finally breaks down when Soki manages to impale him with Requiem, finishing him off for good.

War Is Hell: Soki has nothing good to say about the Korean Invasion, especially since Genma were involved, though it's implied that most soldiers were just as brutal without demonic intervention.

Warm-Up Boss: The Genma Colossus and Danemon Ban are both rather easy to confront and fight, teaching the player how to deal with them. In a New Game+ they can even be defeated in one attack each.

Warrior Monk: Tenkai Nankobo is a buddhist monk who wears an armor and fights demon using staves and halberds along with paper tags and purifying powers.

Weapon of Choice: One for each playable character, usually with variants regarding combo strikes and styles.

Yagyu Jubei: This game finally explains that "Jubei" is the title given to the strongest warrior of the Yagyu Village, revealing that the protagonist from 2 was Sekishusai Yagyu. Munenori appears as a flanderized villain, though Akane herself isn't actually implied to be the historical Munetoshi Jubei.

Yin-Yang Bomb: Near the end, Munenori combines the Oni power of the Demon Eye with the Genma Insects, claiming that both parties are Not So Different. In order to take down the White Serpent, Soki taps into the power of Nobunaga's Soul inside the Oni Gauntlet to achieve his strongest form.

Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Oh boy, in disc 2. First, the Dark Stone in Osaka was almost depleted anyway. Second, the Stone in Kyushu is destroyed, but too late to stop the Omen Star, and finally the teleporter in Nagoya Castle is broken, forcing Minokichi to bail the heroes out with an Heroic Sacrifice.

You Will Not Evade Me: Roberto's special move summons a series of strings from his arms to restrain enemies and turn them into an improvised flail, or just a punching ball.

Zero-Effort Boss: The first two phases of the boss fight against Hideyoshi have Soki, in his Dark Oni form, fighting a wave of Yellow Genma Generals and then Hideyoshi. However, during these phases he's invincible, can be knocked around but not harmed, thus there's no way you can lose. Only during the third phase Hideyoshi can actually hurt Soki.

Zombie Apocalypse: The game introduces more traditional zombies, seemingly made from christian missionairs or peasants, including gigantic variants. Once you land in Kyushu, you first run into a dilapidated village filled with decomposing zombies.

Zombie Puke Attack: The above-mentioned zombies can puke corrosive acid at the heroes to damage them.

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